Hazing Deaths

Hank Nuwer’s Chronology of Deaths Among U.S. College and High School Students as a result of hazing, initiation, and pledging-related accidents. The list has been expanded to include military deaths, adult societies such as Masons and occupational deaths with hazing involved.

According to Hazing author Hank Nuwer, at least one hazing death a year has occurred on a North American college campus (USA, Canada, Mexico) every year from 1954 to 1957 and 1959 to 2018–and many years, multiple deaths have transpired.

There has been a USA school death every year from 1961-2018. Source, Hank Nuwer, Franklin College in “Hazing: Destroying Young Lives (Indiana University Press, 2018).

Nuwer’s previous research had one death a year in USA schools from 1969-2018. The vast majority are in fraternities, and the majority of deaths in recent years have alcohol involved. However, many of the deceased were college and former high school athletes. Early deaths involved schoolboys in Boy Scout hazing tragedies.

The list is a minimum number of deaths directly and indirectly associated with hazing. Every attempt to keep the list current has been made by moderator Hank Nuwer, but certainly some deaths not reported in media stories (or reported only as accidents) are missing from the list. Email him at Hnuwer@hanknuwer.com with additions or corrections.

1) 1838

Franklin Seminary (Kentucky)
Class Hazing

John Butler Groves died in a hazing incident, according to a family history. The school’s records were destroyed in an unrelated fire.

2) 1847
Amherst College (Massachusetts)
Class Hazing

Jonathan D. Torrance died of illness following a drenching with iced water during a hazing custom called “freshman visitation,” according to then-President Edward Hitchcock of Amherst. The death is included in Nuwer’s Wrongs of Passage. See also article below from Berkshire eagle dated Nov. 5, 1863

Mortimer N. Leggett died in a fall into a steep gorge while on a walk in the dark required by fraternity members. Family claims that Leggett was blindfolded were disputed by the chapter. Leggett’s death will be chronicled in an in-depth investigative feature in Hank Nuwer’s 2018 book “Hazing: Destroying Young Lives” (Indiana University Press).

Gen. Leggett buried his namesake who was the first male to die in pledging.

4) 1885

A Hazelton, Pennsylvania High School

School hazing

Gauntlet

Newspapers across the country reported that the son of Edward Turnbach died of injuries from a beating administered by fellow students on September 19. The boy had to run between two lines of boys that struck him as he went by. Here is what the Harrisburg Telegraph from September 21, 1885 reported. Moderator: I am trying to get the name of the dead boy and will post when I get it. Moreover, for that matter I hope to find a reputable geology record to verify that the boy actually died (given the frequent press errors of the day–Hank Nuwer December 23, 2017.

5) 1892
Yale University (Connecticut)
Delta Kappa Epsilon

A blindfolded student named Wilkins Ruskin was killed in an accident in an initiation incident condemned then as outdated “criminal recklessness” by the national fraternity, according to a published article by Fred Kershner (now deceased), formerly of Columbia Teachers College and a fraternity member.

Pittsburgh Press, June 7, 1892

6) 1894
Cornell University (New York)
Bystander accidental death

A non-Cornell bystander accidentally died during a class prank involving deliberate use of chlorine gas. The death of Mrs. Henrietta Jackson is chronicled in an in-depth investigative feature in Hank Nuwer’s 2018 book “Hazing: Destroying Young Lives” (Indiana University Press).

7) 1898

Decatur High School, Illinois

High School Physical Hazing

According to Wikipedia and the Logansport Pharos-Tribune, freshman David C. Jones was one of several boys thrown over a fence. A battle royal ensued and Jones died a few days later of a spinal injury.

8) 1899
Cornell University (New York)
Kappa Alpha Society

Pledge Edward F. Berkeley drowned while completing a pledging errand. The death is described in Hazing by Hank Nuwer (2018). Yes, the 1899 death was by the same Cornell chapter and almost the exact ritual that killed Mortimer Leggett in 1873. While the father of Leggett forgave the hazers and even accepted KAS membership in his son’s memory, Berkeley’s father was bitter and unforgiving. Because Berkeley’s wife was in very poor health, the news was kept from her for quite some time. Like Leggett, courts at the time almost always considered only harsh physical hazing to actually BE hazing. Thus, the Leggett and Berkeley deaths were written off as unfortunate accidents. Cornell Kappa Society lost two pledges and were judged blameless. This would be repeated over and over right up to the present day.

9) 1899
Lawrenceville, New Jersey
High School hazing (Details sketchy. Please email Hank Nuwer if you have more information).

Martin V. Bergen, son of Councilman Peter V. Bergen, of this place, died from injuries received at a hazing at Lawrenceville. He died of inflammation of the bowels. Young Bergen was twelve years old and a freshman at Lawrenceville. He was being put through the initiation when one of the hazers accidentally fell upon him. [Source: Columbus Daily Enquirer, November 23, 1899]

10) 1900
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Class Scrap

Hugh C. Moore died following a snapped neck in a traditional fight between first- and second-year students.

11) 1900
United States Military Academy (New York)
Illness that revealed hazing abuses

Although the death of plebe Oscar Booz was considered illness-caused by a committee of inquiry, those members of the U.S. House of Representatives on the committee determined that he also had been hazed maliciously by upperclassmen.

“Charleston, S. C, Nov. 5. Thomas Finley Brown, 12, Is dead from injuries received while being hazed at tho Porter military academy last Monday.
Brown was now at the academy and the older boys, following their former custom, dropped him Into a cemented swimming basin 12 feet
deep. The basin was dry at the time and tho lad received internal injuries
from the fall. Before he died he did not give the names of the cadets who
had mistreated him, and It Is said no action will be taken In the matter. Source: Evening Bulletin, Maysville, Kentucky”

13) 1903
University of Maryland, Baltimore campus
Phi Psi Chi

Inadequate forensic techniques of the day were unable to provide an exact cause of death other than “congestion of the lungs” for Martin Loew following a hazing by fellow students of the local dental fraternity that left Loew’s body bruised.

14) 1903

Bluffton High School (Indiana)

Secret Society

Ten young men went on trial following the death of “L of S.S.B” recruit Ralph McBride. While McBride was hazed, his death of sepsis occurred five months later. A criminal trial failed to show the death definitely was linked to McBride’s hazing, according to the Indianapolis Journal of December 27, 1903.

15) 1903

Barton, Vermont

Bullying and Torture

Three preteen males decided to pick on 9 year-old Ralph Canning by having him perform mock hazing acts such as sitting and standing on heated rocks. They then physically attacked him. Canning died of his injuries.

16) 1904

Rawson School (Findlay, Ohio)

Alleged Schoolboy hazing

I have confirmed that Freddie Fillwock died. A newspaper account reported that he suffered multiple injuries as a result of striking his head and subsequent piling on during an initiation

17) 1905
Kenyon College (Ohio)
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Accidental Death Following a Hazing

Stuart L. Pierson was struck by a train after fraternity brothers left him on a bridge in an incident called “a mystery death” by Kenyon historian George Franklin Smythe.

18) 1905
High School Hazing (Lima, Ohio)
Death following an initiation

William Taylor, 13, died of pneumonia following an episode where he was rough-housed outdoors in winter by older students.

19) 1906

Class Hazing

Stanford University

Palo Alto, California

Caroline Miller, mother of student William Miller, alleged that her son’s death after a series of colds was caused by his immersion in water. This was called “tubbing” at the time. Source here

20) 1906

Hilliard High School (Columbus, Ohio)

Class Hazing

The New York Times reported that representatives of the family of Cecil F. Leat have sued for $10,000 damages after he was beaten to death in a hazing. NYT Jan. 30, 1906

A father claimed death of his son Edward Beery was caused by hazing. Although 13 members of the class were expelled, the school said it would never cover up and that the direct cause of death was tonsillitis.

“…A rush which took place on the evening of September 22, 1908, on the common, resulted in the death of Emil S. (Ernie) Grau [correct name is Gran], of Wareham, a member of the Class of 1911. [Gran] was caught under a struggling mass of students and suffered a fracture of the spine. He died Sunday, September 27th, and was buried in Wareham the following Wednesday, the entire class attending the funeral, together with representatives of other classes and of the faculty. As a result of this sad accident class rushes were given up and during the past years, the students by their own action, have abolished hazing.” In the 1911 yearbook there is a page dedicated to this student, with his photograph. His name there is written as Emil S. Gran and it says he died September 28, 1908. (However, the custom was started again soon after but called another name).

A WPI yearbook entry above

23) 1909 (verified but number not yet entered)

White School (Indiana)

Hazing and retaliation

After some bullies and hazers were reported, or thought to have been reported by Charles Stinson, he was hung upside down and left a long time to dangle. He died after his attackers came back. according to the Plymouth (IN) Tribune, March 25, 1909.

24) 1912
University of North Carolina
Class hazing

Freshman Isaac Rand bled to death following a stunt in which his throat was accidentally sliced by a broken bottle after he was made to dance on a barrel. Ralph W. Oldham, William L. Merriam, and Aubrey Hatch were found guilty of manslaughter. Originally sentenced to jail for work release, they eventually instead agreed to house arrest.

25) 1913
Purdue University (Indiana)
Class hazing

Francis W. Obenchain died while participating in an annual scrap pitting first-year students against upperclass students. Newspaper accounts of the day and an official Purdue history have differing deductions for the death’s physical cause that occurred during the chaotic traditional battle under a water tank. A recent article for Traces Magazine (Indiana Historical Society) charged that there is evidence of a coverup back in 1913 as to the precise cause of Obenchain’s death. The entire story is told in Hank Nuwer’s “Hazing: Destroying Young Lives” (1918).

26) 1914
St. John’s Military College (Maryland)
Class Hazing

In a switch, hazer William R. Bowlus was shot and killed while hazing a first-year student.

27) 1915

Virginia Military Institute

“Rat” Hazing

Military school hazing

Thurber Sweet, 17, died of serious injuries he claimed, before his death had been caused by beatings with bayonets by older cadets. VMI superintendent E. W. Nichols denied hazing could have been a factor. The case was widely covered nationwide by newspapers.

The family of Ludwig Von Gerichten Jr. blamed his illness-related death on hazing after he was dunked in a horse tank and abandoned in the country.

30) 1917
College of the City of New York
Phi Sigma Kappa

William Ashcom Bullock died of spinal meningitis, and his mother attributed the cause to hazing because members rolled the already ill Bullock on the ground in a wet blanket.

31) 1916

Morningside College (Iowa)

Freshman hazing

Physical hazing

New student Paul N. Blue died from a head injury during extreme physical hazing, according to two newspaper sources provided by Wikipedia.

32) 1919
Colgate University (New York)
Class hazing

Freshman Frank McCullough drowned when he tried swimming to shore after sophomores abandoned him on an island.

33) 1921
Northwestern University (Illinois)
Cause of Death Unknown following a Class Hazing

Leighton Mount disappeared after a traditional class rush, and his body was found beneath a pier two years later. His demise is a mystery. What is not a mystery is how Northwestern’s then president jumped on the theory of suicide in an attempt to protect his school’s reputation.

William Duncan Saunders, 15, died of a skull fracture and ruptured aorta when he was roughly flung from a bed during an incident variously described as horseplay unrelated to hazing and hazing. He was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, but his chapter was not implicated in his demise.

35) 1923
University of Alabama
Sigma Nu
Illness following Initiation

Glenn Kersh, who had a faulty heart, died “from psychic effects of excitement” following his fraternal initiation, according to the coroner’s report.

36) 1923
Franklin and Marshall College (Pennsylvania)
Class Hazing

Sophomore Ainsworth Brown died while injured in a scrap between classes.

37) 1923
Northwestern University (Illinois)
Class Hazing

Louis Aubere was accidentally killed by a passing car while on the running board of a car as he searched for fellow freshmen abducted by sophomores, according to a letter written by Northwestern archivist Patrick Quinn addressed to researcher Mike Moskos.

Here is a clipping at the time:

38) 1923

New Salem, Indiana

High School Hazing (more likely to be called bullying in our own time)

Newcomer Reginald Stringfellow’s death was believed to have been caused by prolonged duckings in tubs of water by upperclassmen. Utah finally outlawed the practice after his death, according to the Ogden Standard-Examiner (January 10, 1925).

Pledge Nolte McElroy, an athlete, died from the electric shock when he had to crawl through mattresses charged with electric current.

41) 1929
Indiana University
Delta Chi
Illness-related Hazing

George Steinmetz Jr. died from lung disease after being physically hazed. The death was blamed by his mother on hazing, but cited as illness-related by university then-administrators who nonetheless strongly condemned all acts of hazing. His mother became the first known parent of a hazing victim to become an activist.

42) 1929

Flint, Michigan

Boyhood hazing (likely bullying in today’s language)

Blood poisoning due to injury

Merrill A. Putnam, 8, died after older boys repeatedly slammed him to the ground in a prank they called the “Royal Bumps.”

43) 1931

Stout Institute (Wisconsin)

Class hazing

Physical contact; hazing horseplay

First-year student Lloyd Aune of Baldwin, Wisconsin, died a painful death after his spinal cord was severed in a wrestling tussle. According to the Milwaukee Journal (September 18, 1931) Clifford Tweed admitted to being one of those grappling with Aune but denied knowing how the young man suffered a serious spine injury. The Journal noted that the student body voted to end all hazing.

44) 1935

Milligan College (Tennessee)

Freshman class hazing

Required “games” of first-year students

Calvin Dougherty, a highly regarded basketball player from Johnson County, Indiana, died from the after-effects of internal injuries suffered when he slammed into a cable during a race mandated by upperclass students. A newspaper in Franklin, Indiana, followed his recovery, setback, and death in detail. He attended church services in Rocklane, Indiana, and a pastor accompanied the father to attend to his son’s hospital bedside.

45) 1935

Dickinson College (Pennsylvania)

Fraternity hazing

Physical contact

Wikipedia and the Altoona Tribune (April 12, 1935) report that pledge Richard Beitzel was somehow severely injured in a fall and cut his leg on a tree stump, dying later of blood poisoning. The Reading Eagle (April 19, 1935) said the college president banned all hazing as a result of the death.

46) 1936 Death (Injury incurred in 1934)

Miami-Dade High School

Iota Phi fraternity

Physical hazing

According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (February 25, 1936), sophomore Taylor Lewis succumbed of injuries incurred two years earlier in a hazing initiation. The school ordered an end to all fraternities and sororities.

Hubert L. Spake Jr. died following a drinking session mandated by a fraternity chapter unrecognized by the university. He likely was the first of many fraternity pledges or members to die from alcohol intoxication during an initiation, according to Hank Nuwer’s historical research.

Hubert L. Spake, Jr.

PS: added June 2, 2017

It was not uncommon even 100-110 years ago or more for undergraduates at sundry colleges to appropriate the fraternal name of a national without permission, and then to besmirch that national’s name with loud and boorish or dangerous behavior. A prime example of this was a onetime national sophomore society called Theta Nu Epsilon. That organization had subrosa, unregulated, unauthorized chapters all over the country. Since it was a sophomore society, its members often or usually had additional membership in authorized nationals. So it was in March 1940 that Hubert L. Spake, Jr, died in his sleep after an alcohol fueled initiation for an unauthorized Theta Nu Epsilon chapter at the Univ of Missouri Kappa Sigma house. The Missouri Dean Albert Heckel shut down the unauthorized chapter for good after Spake choked to death on his own vomit the night after the illicit initiation. Prior to the death, the illicit chapter operated as a freewheeling, hardly unknown chapter at Mizzou.

48) 1943

High school hazing and St. Norbert’s College (Wisconsin)

High school hazing with college students present

Death from nephritis but disputed

Wayne Rogers, assaulted by at least 7 older young men, on his first day in a senior high school, succumbed after his parents asserted the hazers had taken “indecent liberties” with him. The attending physician ruled he died of nephritis caused by a blow but District Attorney Elmer R. Honkamp dismissed any connection between Rogers’s death and hazing. Wayne’s parents expressed outrage.

Robert Perry was turned into a human torch and died after members coated his naked body with flammable substances and applied an electric shock to his skin.

50) 1948

Montana State University

Les Bouffons (The Clowns) Secret Society (local)

Shooting by security guard during prank

War hero and veteran James Peterson, a married father, was shot in the chest as he and 11 initiates of the local society attempted to break into a heating-plant building to set off a whistle as part of their initiation celebration. Peterson, 26, survived 38 air combat missions during World War Two, according to the Ogden Standard Examiner (April 5, 1948).

51) 1949
Brown University (Rhode Island)
Fraternity Rush Night

While on a tour of a fraternity house intended as a rush event to introduce pledges to different fraternal chapters, H. T. Gehl, 19, fell down a set of stairs and died two days later.

52) 1950
University of California, Berkeley
Sigma Pi
Death Following Hazing Dropoff

Pledge Gerald L. Foletta died when hit by an automobile after members dropped him off in the countryside.

Pledge Dean J. Niswonger was hit by a car as he slept after being dropped off on a road far from campus.

54) 1951

Northwestern State College (Louisiana)

Class Hazing

Cruel prank resulting in drowning death

Freshman Allen Kaplan, 18, of Massachusetts, was duped by upperclassmen into meeting a woman on a bluff used as a Lover’s Lane. One perpetrator pretended to be a furious husband and fired a shotgun blast that sent a panicked Kaplan running, according to the Monroe Morning World. Kaplan’s father forgave the pranksters after his son’s submerged body was removed from the nearby Red River.

Peter Mertz was killed by a passing car after members abandoned him in the country.

58) 1955

Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania)

Classmate Hazing and/or bullying

Revenge shooting

The Greenville headline said it all: “Ministerial student mad over being hazed,kills.” In what could have been a campus bloodbath, Robert Bechtel, 22, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, shot one of the hazers tormenting him. Bechtel, mocked for his dark, longish hair, went home and returned to campus with a revolver, .22 rifle, and 134 bullets, according to The Greenville News.

Bechtel, a student aiming to become a Unitarian minister, when to Wharton Hall, a residence hall, and ambushed tormentor Francis Holmes Strozier, a sophomore from Akron, Ohio. He shot him by the light of his flashlight with the rifle. “I had a rage against them,” Bechtel told police. “I felt they were persecuting me.” Bechtel raced about Wharton Hall as if berserk and fired several more shots until other Strozier’s roommate, Robert Witt, 19, subdued him. Bechtel, a hall proctor who knew where his tormentors lived, tried to get into several locked rooms without success. Although newspapers widely characterized the death as bullying, the pranks themselves were more akin in today’s terms as a type of bullying. In a classic case of hidden harm, the tormentors had picked on Bechtel who came to Swarthmore after being discharged from the U.S. Air Force with a nervous breakdown. Bechtel was ruled insane and shipped to a mental hospital.

59, 60) 1955

New Philadelphia, Ohio

Boy Scouts of America

Auto accident during blindfolded initiation march

The Ashbury (N.J. Park Press reported that two of ten boys were killed on a darkened road as they marched with older Explorers to celebrate their initiation as First-Class Scouts. The dead were identified as Michael Andreas and Charles Fawcett. A third youth was injured. The driver was Allen Rupp.

Pledge Richard Swanson choked to death while trying to swallow a slab of liver at the request of members. Parents settled for $35,000.

64) 1959

Yakima High School (Washington State)

Letterman’s Club

Paddling of new members wearing burlap sacks; under supervision of a coach

Henry Sherwood, the unlucky one of 16 initiates, drowned wearing a burlap sack after submitting to a paddling. Head football coach Don Smith was present and overseeing the paddling and subsequent tragedy.

65) 1960

Sir George Williams University (Montreal, Canada)

Freshman hazing

Michael Levine, 17, was sentenced by a kangaroo court to run like a track star for freshman orientation. He wore a sign around his neck saying that his name was Herb Elliot, the Australian runner. After running some eight blocks, he climbed onto a statue of Edward VII to make a spoof speech announcing his retirement from racing. At that point he collapsed and died from an unspecified condition.

66) 1961

Clemson University (South Carolina)

Sigma Kappa Epsilon

Death following a dropoff

Joe Henry Derham, Jr., one of six students left to find his way back to campus, tried to take a short cut across Lake Hartwell in April and drowned. Years later, in 2014, Tucker Hipps would perish on the shore of the same lake.

67) 1962

Allegheny High School

Football Hazing,

Suicide

Richard Metz, 17, was being attacked by two older football players in a hazing. They tried cutting off his ducktail style hair. Metz shot one of the young men, injuring him with a .22 pistol. Afraid of being sent to a correctional institution, Metz turned the weapon on himself and died in September of 1962.

68) 1963

Charleston High School (West Virginia)

Band Hazing

Alleged beating death

Long before the more famous deadly hazing of Robert Champion in a Florida A & M band hazing, high school band members accused of administering a fatal “pink belly” beating to 15-year-old newcomer Michael Murphy in a hazing were let go by a court and acquitted, according to the Spokane Daily Chronicle (October 18, 1963).

69) 1963

University of Florida and Abilene Christian College (Now University, Texas)

Fraternal Organization of Lifeguards

Water Initiation Ritual; Lifeguard Hazing

George E. Beers, 28, died following a lifeguard hazing initiation in the Atlantic Ocean. At first charges were dropped on a technicality against University of Florida undergraduates John Masters and John Tanner, as well as Roger Orrell, an Abilene Christian [University] student. In January of 1964, a charge of culpable negligence was filed by the state attorney. Newspaper accounts ended with the charges filed. This is a case where the moderator would appreciate any assistance in determining if charges were dropped or if there was a conviction. Because Orrell competed in shot put in 1964, it is doubtful the charges stuck. In this photo, Orrell is the fifth track athlete from the left, upper row. Orrell was a record setting shotputter for the school.

Jose Manual Costa, 20, died and a second young man was seriously injured when their car left the road and struk a telephone pole in N. Kingston, R.I. Source The Journal News, White Plains, December 17, 1964.

Member Richard Winder drowned in dam waters while hazing a fellow member during a silly initiation practiced by members after someone in the chapter was pinned or engaged.

Above: Cincinnati Enquirer. February 14, 1965.

72) 1966

Roman Catholic High School (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Athletic hazing

Drowning

Lamonte R. Jenkins died of drowning after being tossed into water near West Chester, according to Wikipedia and the Hazleton Standard-Speaker . Authorities found “no malicious intent,” according to the Standard-Speaker. He was at a football camp.

John E. Clifton died while choking down a foul concoction and laxatives requested by members. The state ruled the incident an accident, and the then-college president said the incident did not meet his definition of hazing.

Two men on a fraternity scavenger hunt and a friend who drove the car all died in a smashup during a grueling, all-night scavenger hunt. The dead were Michael L. DiBacco, Trent Ciarrochia, and William Entinger. DiBacco was the driver of the other car and was on his way to work. Trent Ciarrochia, and William Entinger were on the fraternity scavenger hunt. The young men were not carrying identification and were traced through th ecar’s registration.

76) 1969

Muskingum College (New Concord, Ohio): Now Muskingum University

Athletic hazing

Overexertion during exercise session

Scott Graeler, a sophomore varsity tackle, died during an initiation at the team’s Stag Club House. A club president later paid a $100 fine, according to Wikipedia. According to the Times Recorder of Zanesville, Ohio, the person fined by the court was John (Jack) Falcon, a junior.The coroner’s verdict was heart failure due to overexertion. “The death was not intentional,” said Jodge J. Lincoln Knapp, defending the typical light sentence for hazing. “There but for the grace of God could have gone many others.” Graeler was dead on arrival on Feb. 8, 1969. He was taken ill at the campus’s Stag Club.

77) 1970
Eastern Illinois University
Alpha Gamma Delta sorority
Accidental death of member during prank abduction

A sorority member jumped on the bumper of a moving car as pledges tried to abandon her in the country as a joke. The death of Donna Bedinger was ruled accidental by authorities, and a family member argued that her death should be called a prank, not hazing.

Was alcohol a factor? No alcohol charges were placed against the pledges. My interview with the district attorney who declined to press charges did not include any questions from me on alcohol.

Member Fred Bronner was taken on a dropoff for his alleged bad attitude by members. Taken without his glasses that were on order after breaking, he plunged into a gorge and died. Fraternity brothers were sentenced to light community service.

Was alcohol a factor? Unknown to moderator.

80) 1972
University of Maryland
Sigma Alpha Mu
Physical hazing

Member Brian Cursack collapsed and died after performing calisthenics during pledging.

Pledge Mitchell Fishkin died when he jumped from car while being taken to a dropoff far from campus. School and fraternity officials called the incident horseplay, not hazing.

Was alcohol a factor? Unknown to moderator.

82, 83, 84, 85) 1974
Grove City College (Pennsylvania)
Adelphikos
Four pledges died following dropoff

Four of the 17 pledges taken on a dropoff were killed by a car whose driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. The dead were Thomas Morgan Elliott, John Curtin, Rudolph Mion, and Gary Gilliland, all 18.

Was alcohol a factor? Unknown. A relative wrote to say her family believed the driver had been drinking but that no charges had been placed to the family’s knowledge. Most accounts say the driver fell asleep at the wheel.

86) 1974
Monmouth College (New Jersey)
Zeta Beta Tau
Physical hazing

William E. Flowers, 19, suffocated after being entombed in a grave members asked him to dig on a sandy ocean beach.

Was alcohol a factor? Unknown to moderator. However, none of my press clippings mention alcohol use in this case, nor did Mrs. Dorothy Flowers cite alcohol in my interview with her in 1989. Below, Philadelphia Daily News, Nov. 13, 1974

Michael Bishop, a fraternity member, was shot and killed by the chapter’s graduate adviser during a bizarre hazing. Cans were put on heads of pledges and knocked off with a stick simultaneously as a gun was fired by a member or the adviser.

Pledge John Davies, a varsity football player, died on the bed of a pickup truck at Pyramid Lake after members required three days of marathon drinking. The club was under suspension by the university at the time of death. Hazing had been outlawed at Nevada as early as 1906 by President Edward E. Stubbs.

Alcohol: primary factor.

91) 1975
Washington State University
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Hell Week death from pneumonia

Sleep-deprived pledge John Asher died of pneumonia following a Hell Week in which he voluntarily participated in heavy exercises despite being very ill.

ROTC pledge Thomas Fitzgerald, a student at another school (Queens) who had applied for admission into the elite St. John’s chapter, was accidentally impaled by a bayonet blade during a stunt meant merely to intimidate him. Police said James Savino wielded the deadly blade. School and military officials refused to call the incident hazing, referring to it euphemistically as “unauthorized training.”

A pledge died of a heart attack after weeks of beatings and physical exertion at the bequest of a chapter which claimed it had a connection with a national historically black fraternity. The national disavowed all ties.

Pledge Charles (Chuck) Stenzel died following an intense drinking bout requested by local chapter members as part of Tapping Night, the school’s traditional opening night of pledging. The investigation by a local prosecuting attorney never formally was closed, but no charges ever were forthcoming. Chuck’s mother, Eileen Stevens, founded CHUCK, the Committee to Halt Useless College Killings

Alcohol the primary cause of death.

100) 1978

North Carolina Central University

Renegade chapter of Omega Psi Phi

Physical exercise collapse

Nathaniel Swinson, 20, already ill, collapsed during a laborious workout demanded of him and died. One newspaper article said the chapter had been newly chartered by the national (The Dispatch, February 8, 1978). Pledges continued to exercise as he lay resting instead of being taken to a hospital.

101) 1979
Louisiana State University
Theta Xi
Ritual march

Bruce Wiseman was blindfolded when a car plowed into him and other pledges on a dark road in the countryside. He alone died.

Pledge Norsha Lynn Delk died in a river drowning during a so-called cleansing ceremony and pledge Robert Etheridge died trying to rescue her.

Unknown if alcohol was present. Not cited in press clippings at time.

105) 1980
University of North Dakota
Sigma Nu
Member stabbed by member during Discipline Session

A member who was being punished with a “cherry belly” by other members disciplining him for his alleged bad attitude accidentally stabbed and killed Kingsley Davidson, 19. The member was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Pledge David Masciantonio, 19, died while jogging at 3 a.m. with other pledges when a car struck him. A school spokesman at the time said no hazing occurred in spite of the hour, but a hazing activist attacked the denial.

Pledge Lex Dean Batson fell to his death from a bluff following a prank in which pledges and members tried to urinate on a statue below. A family member disputed officials’ finding that the incident was horseplay, not hazing.

Alcohol use was present but I do not know if it was direct cause of death.

Pledge Vann Watts died of an alcohol overdose. A fellow pledge claimed they had been beaten and made to drink, but other pledges denied hazing had occurred.

Alcohol was a factor. Physical violence was present.

117) 1984
University of California, Davis
Kappa Alpha Order
Alcohol-related death

A truck filled with pledges and members on a mission to paint a rock with graffiti crashed on Interstate 80, killing Brad Bing, 21.

Alcohol was a factor in the fatal accident.

118) 1984
Texas A & M University
Corps of Cadets
Hazing by calisthenics

Second-year member Bruce Ward Goodrich, 20, died from heatstroke while performing strenuous exercises at 2:30 a.m. One student was found guilty of destroying evidence (a company exercise schedule, and three pleaded guilty to hazing.

Alcohol was not cited in police investigation or press coverage.

119) 1984
American International College
Zeta Chi local chapter of athletic team fraternity
Alcohol-related hazing death

Pledge Jay Lenaghan, 19, died following a drinking marathon with a blood-alcohol level of 0.48.

Pledge Jeffrey Franklin Long, 23, was killed by a fellow pledge’s speeding car. Ten pledges consumed at least two gallons of wine the night of the death. Members still maintain that the press overreacted to the death.

Under-aged Pledge Sherri Ann Clark’s blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit when she fell to her death at a party sponsored by two sororities. Fraternity and sorority national executives then and now have defined giving alcohol to pledges to be a form of hazing, but Clark’s death at the time was classified as a non-hazing alcohol-related death.

Pledge Harold Thomas, 25, died on a track of heart failure when a non-member in a fraternity shirt made him exercise. Authorities ruled the death non-hazing, but the incident sparked national interest in taking strong measures against renegade chapters and members. Thomas did not have the university-mandated gradepoint average required for pledging eligibility.

Alcohol was not a factor in the death. Overexertion led to death.

124) 1986
University of Texas
Phi Kappa Psi
Alcohol-related hazing

Mark Seeberger, 18, died with a blood-alcohol level of 0.43 when members gave him rum and beer. A Travis County grand jury refused to indict anyone.

Alcohol was a factor in the death.

125) 1987
University of Mississippi
Kappa Alpha Order
Alcohol-related fall

Although the death of Harry (Skip) Cline Jr., 18, was ruled an accidental, non-hazing death by university officials, it occurred after an annual drinking party at the house in which pledges were encouraged to drink.

Alcohol was a factor in the death, according to Frank Hurdle who was student newspaper editor at the time. “Alcohol was definitely a factor in the death of Skip Cline, following a Big Brother/Little Brother in which pledges went around asking actives if they were their big brother. If no, they were offered a drink but not forced to drink. Cline passed out at the house and is estimated to have reached a BAC of .45. He woke the next morning and walked out the back exit and fell down the second-floor steps. BAC at that time I think was .24.”

Rush chairman David Dunshee, 20, died during a fraternity party held on a lake.

Alcohol was a factor in the death.

Moderator: Here is a helpful note from a member of Zeta Psi edited only for length, not content. Hi Hank. This email will likely sound like one of self-preservation or defense on behalf of my fraternity, but I am simply submitting it to you because I figured you’d appreciate it. I found the original article about the incident on the Stanford Daily archives: https://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19870427-01.2.2# Dunshee was a rush chairman. Although the party was a Rush event and alcohol was being served, and not being fully educated on the definitions in your area of study, I don’t really know if it falls under the category of a pledging-related death, though I can see that if having a rush event with alcohol is a precursor to any death then this incident could fall under that definition, even if it was not a pledge or a deliberate hazing incident.

Of course, you will know best how to edit the current entry. It does sound like the Zetes in that day certainly took some actions which were harmful to others, and in one case pledges were found bound by hands and feet at a nearby horse stable.. how that encourages unity is beyond me.

I’ll be reading more of your work in the coming weeks and I hope that you continue your fight along with the other groups working on policy change, so that we don’t hear these stories like the one at Penn State any longer. I feel fortunate that during my pledging process I was not subjected to anything like I have read on your website and elsewhere.. it makes me sick to my stomach thinking that a group of men all agreed at some point that some of these rituals are a good thing.

129) 1988
State University of New York at Albany
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Electrocution during pre-initiation “cleansing” ritual

School and law-enforcement officials ruled that hazing did not occur when pledges and members agreed to enter a lake that, unknown to them, was laced with an electric current due to a malfunctioning cable. Pledge Bryan Higgins died in the high-voltage death trap.

Unknown to me whether alcohol was consumed in this episode.

130) 1988
University of Richmond (Virginia)
Pi Kappa Alpha
Accidental death during servitude

Matthew S. McCoy, 18, died asleep at the wheel while on a pledge errand. A school official ruled the incident was non-hazing although such pledging errands were not permitted by the international fraternity.

Rushee Steven Butterworth fell out a window to his death after consuming ten quick drinks at a rush party. The death was ruled accidental, not a hazing.

Alcohol was cited in investigation of fatal accidental fall.

135) 1990
Western Illinois University
Lacrosse Club
Athletic hazing

Nick Haben, a non-drinker ordinarily, died from an alcohol overdose while participating in alcohol games for a school athletic club. Several members were convicted by the courts of serving alcohol to a minor.

Pledge Rolland C. Pederson died when struck by a car on the side of the road while headed to a pledge retreat. Even though alcohol was involved, the school ruled the incident merely violated its alcohol policy and was not hazing.

Alcohol was present and a factor but unknown if it was primary cause of accident.

139) 1992
University of Vermont
Sigma Phi Society
Rush party alcohol-related accidental death

Rushee Jonathan S. McNamara, 17, fell from a cliff when he lost his balance while on an outing with members of the chapter he wished to pledge. His blood-alcohol level was 0.125.

Alcohol was present and a factor but unknown if it was primary cause of accident.

An ill and exhausted J.B. Joynt III died following a pledge sneak in which pledges rough-housed with members. The fraternity blamed the death on illness and argued that hazing had not occurred. No charges were filed, and police destroyed Joynt’s pledge book.

Unknown to me if alcohol was a factor. Victim’s sister cited physical violence, not alcohol, during my interview with her.

Chad Saucier, a pledge even though he was a community college student and not an Auburn student, died from alcohol intoxication following an annual bottle exchange between members and pledges.

Alcohol was a direct cause of death.

143) 1993
Alcorn State University (Mississippi)
Alpha Phi Omega (inactive, banned chapter at the time)
Death During So-Called Prank

Leslie Ware, 18, was shot at 1 a.m. on a school light while stealing a chair. He was shot by the boyfriend of the woman who owned the chair. The surviving pledges originally said they were procuring the chair for a member who requested it, but then retracted the claim to say they were pulling a prank on their own.

I do not know if the shooter had been drinking at time of death. No press accounts mention alcohol or physical hazing.

144) 1994
Bloomsburg University (Pennsylvania)
Delta Chi
Alcohol-Related Death of Member at Hell Night

Member Terry Linn, 21, died following pledging Hell Night with a blood-alcohol count of 0.40.

Alcohol was a direct cause of death.

145) 1994
Southeast Missouri State
Kappa Alpha Psi
Physical Hazing

“Candidate for initiation” Michael Davis was pummeled to death by members. Several members served small sentences.

Physical violence was direct cause of death. Alcohol use was never mentioned in press coverage or my conversations with family members.

146) 1995
University of Texas
Texas Cowboys
Alcohol-related Death by Drowning

Gabriel Higgins drowned in the Colorado River after participating in silly drinking games at the initiation party on the ranch of an alumnus who did not partake in the games.

Alcohol and possibly exhaustion from exercise during drinking games contributed to the fatal accident.

147) 1996
University of Virginia
Pi Kappa Phi
Alcohol-related Death Following Rush Function

Member Brian Cook, 21, died in an auto accident following a rush event he himself had chaired. A fraternity brother was convicted of driving under the influence.

A Brazos County grand jury brought no charges against members who soaked a pledge with water on a chilly January day. Although Trey Walker was cleaning the house, members insisted no hazing had occurred. Walker’s family argued hazing was a factor in his death.

Alcohol was not cited as used at time of death, according to a family member.

Pledges Brian T. Sanders and Brian Pearce died during a pledge and member outing in which alcohol was served pledges.

Alcohol likely contributed to the two deaths. Brian died heroically died trying to locate Pearce. The national fraternity closed the chapter.

151) 1997
North Carolina State University
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Drowning Following Initiation

Steven Velazquez, 19, died when he and other members and new members dove into a lake for a traditional swim following the initiation of pledges. A 911 call reporting the accident said all had been “roughing around” when the death occurred. Hazing was denied by participants.

Pledge Scott Krueger, 18, went into a coma and died at a pledge party. Charges were filed against the chapter instead of members, and the chapter merely dissolved with little or no consequence to individuals. The school settled with Krueger’s parents for $6 million.

Alcohol contributed significantly to the death. He was removed from life support due to alcohol-related damage to his body.

John Laduca, 18, a newly initiated member who had endured hazing but also had personal problems, killed himself in the house. The national fraternity said the personal problems, not hazing, contributed to Laduca’s suicide. Laduca’s family insisted the hazing and sleep deprivation might have clouded their son’s judgment.

Unknown to me if alcohol was present during the suicide itself.

Important Declaration: Although media accounts have linked suicides on this page to hazing, it is important for journalists and the public alike to recognize that depression is the most common link to suicides of all populations. I think it important to report when the parents of victims believe hazing is the cause and quote them accurately, but it is also important to note that it is one thing to note there is a huge difference between an alleged link between hazing/bullying and listing it as “the cause” of such deaths. I try to err on the side of caution. HN

Courtney Cantor had a small amount of alcohol and possibly a date-rape drug in her system as she plunged from a dormitory to her death. In some ways, her death was a mystery in that her final movements were unknown. However, both national organizations strongly insist on alcohol-free pledging.

Alcohol was present in the under-aged woman’s system.

157) 1998
University of Mississippi
Sigma Chi
Suicide

Dudley R. Moore IV died by hanging. He had been hazed prior to dying, but the family and university blamed personal problems, not the chapter, as the main cause for Moore’s actions.

Unknown to me if alcohol was present during the suicide itself.

Important Declaration: Although media accounts have linked suicides on this page to hazing, it is important for journalists and the public alike to recognize that depression is the most common link to suicides of all populations. I think it important to report when the parents of victims believe hazing is the cause and quote them accurately, but it is also important to note that it is one thing to note there is a huge difference between an alleged link between hazing/bullying and listing it as “the cause” of such deaths. I try to err on the side of caution. HN

158) 1998
University of Texas
Phi Kappa Sigma
Alcohol-related death

Member Jack L. Ivey, Jr., 23, died after pledges played a drinking game with him. His blood-alcohol level was 0.40.

First-year student Donnie Lindsey Jr. drowned after jumping into a campus lake in an unsanctioned ritual following a university-sanctioned signing of the school’s honor code.
No hazing charges were brought against event organizers.

No mention of alcohol was in press coverage. It is unlikely given the circumstances, however.

162) 1999

Old Dominion University

Alpha Tau Omega

Big Brother/Little Brother bottle exchange.

The victim who died of alcohol poisoning was Terry Stirling, 19.

163) 2000
University of Georgia
Alpha Tau Omega
Road trip death

Pledge sneaks—events in which pledges kidnap members—have widely been condemned by national organizations. Ben Folsom Grantham III died on an apparent pledge sneak. The university condemned the activity but did not rule hazing had occurred. Over time the university student newspaper had to resort to freedom of information act requests to find out fraternity sanctions for hazing and other problems.

Pledge Adrian Heideman died after being encouraged to drink. Some members, including chapter officers, received a light jail sentence. Three men (Brandon Bettar, Richard De Luna, 21, Sam Dobbyn, 21 were sentenced to 30 days in county jail, three years court probation and $640 in fines, Prosector Ramsey said. They and three other fraternity members, Mark Bates, Nicholas Sutton and Theodore Bloemendaal, agreed to pay the Heideman family $75,000 each in return for being dropped from a lawsuit.

Alcohol was cause of death. Adrian and mom Edith.

165) 2001
Indiana University
Theta Chi
Accidental rush death

Seth Korona died from the effects of a head injury contracted after consuming beer during a keg stand.

Alcohol was a contributing factor but other factors also were involved (previous illness).

166) 2001
Tennessee State University
Omega Psi Phi
Pledging death

A coroner wrote that Joseph T. Green died during an exercise session suggested by members.

Physical hazing was a cause of death. Unknown if alcohol was present.

167) 2001
University of Miami
Kappa Sigma
Accidental drowning of pledge (hazing was ruled out until a May 2002 statement by attorney reopened case)

Chad Meredith

Chad Meredith, 18, of Indianapolis, drowned in Lake Osceola while with two Kappa Sigma brothers. A judgment in a civil suit awarded the family $14 million from those present at Meredith’s death.

Alcohol and inaction of brothers present contributed to the death.

168) 2001
University of Minnesota, Duluth
Men’s and women’s rugby initiation
Death ruled an accident

Although Ken Christiansen had been drinking at an initiation party and veteran members scrawled pictures on their faces, he died of an accident when he fell dead drunk into a creek and died, according to a police investigation.

Alcohol consumed prior to going out in freezing temperatures and failure of other athletes to montor were all factors in the death.

Member Ben Klein who was beaten after turning his chapter in for what he considered hazing and later was found dead in a creek near the fraternity house. State investigators ruled Klein’s death a suicide. Members drank heavily rather than search for him with rescuers.

Substance abuse was present night of death.

Important Declaration: Although media accounts have linked suicides on this page to hazing, it is important for journalists and the public alike to recognize that depression is the most common link to suicides of all populations. I think it important to report when the parents of victims believe hazing is the cause and quote them accurately, but it is also important to note that it is one thing to note there is a huge difference between an alleged link between hazing/bullying and listing it as “the cause” of such deaths. I try to err on the side of caution. HN

Two males associated with the SDSU Tekes, on suspension for hazing, were killed when thrown from their truck as pledges were being taken somewhere from campus. The dead were identified as Brian Jimenez and Zachary Jacobs, both 18. An angry mother demanded to know why pledges had been taken out when the chapter was under suspension.

The Associated Press reports that the mother of a drowning victim and her friend may have been partaking in a sorority ritual. The students Kenitha Saafir, 24, and Kristin High, 22, died in waters off Playa del Rey, according to police officers contacted by AP. High may have been performing an unsanctioned hazing ritual for Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, according to her mother’s allegations. Those present denied hazing occurred. The family has announced a civil suit to come. No hazing charges have ever been levied, however.

Alcohol or direct physical violence never mentioned in press coverage or attorney’s claims.

174) 2002
University of Nevada, Reno
Pi Kappa Alpha
Drowning Death

Pledge Albert (A.J.) Santos drowned in a University of Nevada campus lake. He was a pledge of Pi Kappa Alpha. There were no arrests. A district attorney refused to call it hazing but instead a prank.

Daniel Reardon, 19, was found in a coma in January at the Phi Sigma Kappa house following Bid Night. Authorities and his family blame an alcohol drinking tradition associated with pledging for his death. No hazing charges were filed.

Alcohol was cause of death.

176, 177, 178, 179) 2003
Yale University
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Death after Night of Chapter “Ride” into New York (ruled accident and non-hazing but WAS pledging-related)

Following an old custom of pledges taking a senior fraternity member on a “ride” into New York City, a caravan of brothers and pledges returned to New Haven. Near Bridgeport, one of the DKE vehicles hit a semi that had broken down. Four young men were killed and five were injured. Yale sophomores Nicholas Grass, Kyle Burnat, Andrew Dwyer and junior Sean Fenton perished. An alumnus of that fraternity chapter in 2011 angrily said a scavenger hunt should not be called hazing.

This seems to be a case of hidden harm. While the four deaths occurred after a scavenger hunt, the driver himself was not intoxicated. Alcohol was consumed by all or some of the deceased but alcohol was not the direct cause of their death.

180) 2003
Plattsburgh State (State University of New York)
Psi Epsilon Chi (suspended and unrecognized at time)
Hazing convictions

Following the death of 18-year-old Plattsburgh State University freshman
Walter Dean Jennings, 11 fraternity brothers were convicted of crimes and served smaller sentences. Police stated that Jennings apparently died of swelling of the brain related to water intoxication.

Some members had been drinking heavily night of the death. Jennings died of a chemical inbalance due to coerced water drinking.

Jerry Hopkins, 36, a fraternity pledge attending the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, died on a campout with the Kappa Phi Theta fraternity in Pennsylvania’s Allegany National Forest. Autopsy was inconclusive.

Circumstances unknown to me.

182) 2003
Plymouth State University
Sigma Kappa Omega sorority (a local that formerly was a national sorority)
Pledging-related death in car crash

Pledge Kelly Nester of Coventry, R.I., died following the crash of Jeep Grand Cherokee. 10 pledges were stuffed in the Cherokee and on the floor without seatbelt restraints to protect them, police determined. A lawyer for the driver of the vehicle denies that any swerving or hazing occurred. A civil suit has been launched.

Unknown to me if any pledges had been drinking. The driver was not cited for an alcohol violation, however. The direct cause was the accident itself.

183) 2003
Bradley University
Phi Kappa Tau
Rush-related death

Robert Schmalz, 22, died following a rush event in which he consumed a lethal amount of alcohol. He was a member, not a pledge.

Pledge Kenny Luong of Cal Poly Pomona died in August after competing in a football game with other pledges against members of the Irvine chapter. There were many more members than pledges in the roughly played game.

188) 2005
University of Texas
Lambda Phi Epsilon
Alcohol death of a pledge

Phanta “Jack” Phoummarath died of acute alcohol intoxication during a fraternity event. Toxicology ruling came January 2006.

Alcohol was direct cause of death.

189) 2006 Jack
University of Texas
Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Police said hazing may have been a factor in the death of pledge Tyler Cross who died in a fall while under the influence of alcohol.

190) 2006
Limestone College (South Carolina)
Athletic party death

The death of athlete Zach Dunlevy received little national attention although many elements of the definition of hazing were present when he died of an alcohol overdose at a party attended by the school’s athletes. The college was content to let this death slip under the radar screen with as little public scrutiny as possible. See
http://www.stophazing.org/nuwer/dec06column.htm

The alcohol-related death of Nikolas Gallegos, 18, at a fraternity party led to a letter to the student paper by a relative who pleaded that no fingers be pointed at anyone in the death. A school official declared the incident non-hazing, but circumstances of the death pointed to clear violations of the school’s own hazing code. Alcohol was a factor.

Update: In 2013, a drunk SFA TKE made a U-turn, collided with a semi. The result was 3 dead, one injured. Does not appear to be hazing.

Julie and Gary Sr. DeVercellys’ son, Gary Jr., an avid baseball player and on his way to earn an MBA to become a general manager of a professional baseball team, told his mother he wanted to join Phi Kappa Tau because it stood for leadership and would be good for his resumé and networking. She asked him about hazing. He told her not to worry — hazing is illegal in New Jersey,?and the University takes it seriously. Sadly Gary Jr. died as a result of a fraternity hazing ritual.

From the moment detectives walked into the fraternity house, they worked the homicide as a hazing case. All pledges were ‘required’ to drink. Two went to the hospital with alcohol poisoning, and one of them died. Gary and the other pledges were hazed numerous times leading up to Big Little Night, the most deadly night of pledging. There were numerous, less dangerous forms of hazing that took place prior to this lethal night. It started with making and wearing tee shirts with demeaning words, to studying while standing for hours in the basement, to unity pushups and sit-ups in the woods in the dark, to a scavenger hunt stretching from New Jersey, to New York City, to Philadelphia way into the early hours.

From Gary and Julie Devercelly:

To this day we still do not know all of the details of this deadly night. Somehow Gary Jr. made it from the basement of the fraternity house, where pledges were required to consume all of their ‘family’ drink before leaving, to the bartender’s room on the second floor. Numerous people knew Gary Jr. was in trouble and told fraternity members to call for help. Unfortunately, no one listened until it was too late. Gary was placed on a futon and left alone. By the time paramedics were called it was too late. Gary Jr’s. parents and younger siblings flew across the country to? be with him in his last hours of life. His parents had to make that decision no parent should ever have to make. With his mother, father, younger sister, and younger brother at his side, Gary Jr. was taken off of life support.

Represented family whose beloved son and brother died as a result of hazing by members of Phi Kappa Tau during the Spring of 2007 at Rider University.? Two senior university officials were indicted by a Grand Jury as a result of the hazing death, although the local prosecutor decided later to dismiss the indictment. Civil claims were filed against the University (its employees), the Phi Kappa Tau national and local chapter, and numerous fraternity members. Like many fraternity tragedies, the fraternity brothers and media wrongly portrayed this as an incident of binge drinking. In fact, the local chapter had a longstanding, unlawful tradition involving the use of dangerous quantities of alcohol as part of a big brother – little brother ritual. The alcohol was provided to pledges as their “family drink,” and pledges were coerced and pressured to consume the entire contents of the bottle as a sign of loyalty and brotherhood. To review one portion of the evidence establishing this dangerous ritual, the outrageous activities leading to our clients’ son’s death, and the failure by Phi Kappa Tau to act reasonably, please review the affidavit of the former president of the local chapter.

The case exposed significant shortcomings in the management of fraternities, including by Rider University. The family demanded –and was the first to obtain– historic, substantial concessions(non-monetary policy changes) in settlement against a university.? Later, the?National Fraternity initiated extensive similar changes. All of the family’s efforts?have set new, higher standards designed to make campuses and students safer. The family also established new legal precedent, including the clear abolishment of the charitable immunity defense for fraternities in New Jersey. See Order. As the Court specifically ruled, “this Court finds that the defendants are fraternal organizations whose purpose is not solely charitable or educational, but rather partially to benefit its members, [thus] defendants’ claims do not survive the motion to dismiss.” As a result of these changes, this family’s efforts have ensured that fraternities are clearly obligated to supervise the conduct of their chapters and members and will be unable toassert time-worn defenses to evade legal responsibility for tragedies caused by their or their chapters’ misconduct.

193) 2008
University of Delaware
Sigma Alpha Mu
Hazing Death

Brett Griffin, 18, of Kendall Park, N.J died in Newark, DE. The Delta Lambda chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu has been charged with midemeanor hazing by the Delaware Attorney General’s office, the Associated Press reported.
Newark Police have charged University of Delaware students, all members or pledges of Sigma Alpha Mu, had already been charged as individuals by Newark police with alcohol and drug offenses stemming from the investigation of the death of Brett Griffin. However, police emphasized the individuals have no links to the death of Griffin. Griffin, died at a party in November.

Alcohol was direct cause of death.

194) 2008
Wabash College (Indiana)
Delta Tau Delta
Family member blames death on hazing

The attorney for the family of 18-year-old Johnny D. Smith of Tucson, Arizona who died of alcohol poisoning took the unusual step of calling a press conference calling for investigation of possible hazing. Smith’s grandmother, Monya Ballah, Tucson, wrote that her grandson told her pledges were being pressured to drink alcohol in an e-mail to The Indianapolis Star.

Police complained that university officials waited two days before asking them to investigate the death of Harrison Kowiak, 18, in what has been called a physical initiation game. The death has not officially been ruled hazing, but the father of Kowiak said the event certainly met the definition of hazing. The mother of Kowiak, Lianne Kowiak, became an anti-hazing advocate.

Earlier in the year the Lenoir-Rhyne women’s soccer team was videotaped in a hazing incident involving alcohol.

Alcohol not a factor in Harrison’s condition. Death caused by head injury. Lianne Kowiak has become an activist and winner of the Hank Nuwer Antihazing Hero Award. It is unknown if brothers had been drinking since they waited many hours before getting Harrison medical treatment.

The parents of Donnie Wade Jr., 20, claim that an exercise session in which their son died was a direct result of hazing.

Physical abuse and overexertion contributed to the death. Alcohol was not a factor.

200) 2010
Radford University (Virginia)

Tau Kappa Epsilon

The 2010 death of Samuel Mason was called a hazing incident and subsequently resulted thus far in seven arrests in 2011. Punishments were unusually light. A $1,000 fine given most of those charged.
Alcohol was direct cause of death.

A 2012 lawsuit by the mother of a deceased sorority pledge at East Carolina University maintained that the 2010 deaths of her daughter and a second pledge were directly caused by sleep deprivation due to hazing. East Carolina State University Delta Sigma Theta pledges Victoria Carter, 20, and Briana Latrice Gather, 20, died in a car accident.

The mother of member George Desudunes blamed SAE over allegations this member’s death was the result of pressure to drink put upon him by the chapter’s pledges.

Alcohol was direct cause of death.

204) 2011
Florida A & M Band
Hazing involving physical beatingBand member Robert Champion died on a bus in an incident police have called hazing-related. One participant was sentenced to six years in prison. All others received probation.

The alcohol-related death of William (Will) Torrance at Delta Gamma Iota (formerly Sigma Phi Epsilon) occurred on Bid Night, hauntingly recalling the death of Chuck Stenzel at Alfred University, a hazing death on “Tapping Night” (tapped for membership) that inspired mother Eileen Stevens to form the antihazing group C.H.U.C.K. (Committee to Halt Useless College Killings)

Alcohol was direct cause of death.

206) 2012
Madison, North Dakota
High School athletics hazing prank
Murder as revenge for athletic hazing

Madison High School graduate Carl Ericcson, 73, received life in prison for the revenge killing of one-time Madison athlete Norman Johnson who Ericsson claimed had hazed him as a schoolboy by flipping a jock over his face. Johnson was shot at his own home.

Theta Chi pledge Philip Dhanens, a 350-pound former football player, died following a weekend binge. He died at a hospital where he had been taken for assistance. Leonard Serrato, 30, served 90 days for supplying the alcohol, and for strongly encouraging Dhanens to consume copious amounts of rum. Another member, Aaron Raymo, served a 30-day sentence. Theta Chi president Daniel Baker also served a short jail term.

Philip Dhanens

“This [hazing] is one aspect of college life that must stop,” Mrs. Diane Dhanens said. “This will only happen, gentlemen, if you and I stand together and accept what has happened, accept the punishments for breaking the law, and accept the death of a friend because of poor judgment and not caring about the safety of your fraternity brothers.”

208) 2012
Easton, Pennsylvania
Lafayette College
Kappa Delta Rho and other fraternity chapters visited by victim prior to his death

The president of Lafayette College said that a student, Everett Glenn, who died after drinking at a banned chapter of Kappa Delta Rho was a hazing victim. Members of KDR
denied that recruiting had occurred, according to the Lafayette student newspaper. Earlier in 2012, an additional Lafayette College student died after consuming a lethal amount of alcohol on his birthday–a non-hazing death.

The alcohol-related death of pledge David Bogenberger was hazing-related, according to an investigative report by Dane Placko of WFLD-TV, Fox 32. Twenty-two Pi Kappa Alpha members were convicted of various misdemeanor charges.

Details below are from an article written by Daily Herald reporter Madhu Krishnamurthy,

Bogenberger, 19, a graduate of Palatine High School, and 18 other pledges drank anywhere from three to five 4-ounce glasses of vodka in each of the seven designated rooms at the fraternity house within an hour and a half, according to the amended wrongful death lawsuit filed by Bogenberger’s family against the Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity, several of its members, and 16 female defendants.

The pledges were asked nonsensical and personal questions, including about their sexual history and preferences and told to drink after each answer by active fraternity members and women invited to participate in “Mom and Dad’s Night,” a non-sanctioned initiation event. Pledges who expressed reluctance to drink as directed were berated with obscenities until they relented, the lawsuit claims.

The pledges were unable to walk on their own and were taken to the basement of the fraternity house and given buckets to vomit in; they vomited on themselves and each other. As they began to lose consciousness, their limp bodies were left in different places in the fraternity house such as the kitchen and hallway floors, according to the amended complaint.

Bogenberger was put on a bed by his “Greek father,” who placed his head and body in such a way that if he vomited, he wouldn’t choke, the lawsuit alleges.

The “Greek parents” decided against calling an ambulance or getting medical help for the unconscious pledges, and they told others not to call 911, according to the lawsuit.

A fraternity officer sent a mass text message to members ordering them to delete photographs and videos of pledges who were unconscious, the suit alleges.

Bogenberger was found dead the morning of Nov. 2. His blood alcohol content was 0.351 percent, authorities said.

Five former officers of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity — where the 19-year-old Palatine High School graduate was a pledge — pleaded guilty to reckless conduct, a Class A misdemeanor, as part of negotiated agreements. James Harvey, 23, of Northfield; Alexander Jandick, 23, of Naperville; Steven Libert, 23, of Naperville; Patrick Merrill, 22, of Boston, Mass.; and Omar Salameh, 24, of Burbank, were sentenced to 24 months’ conditional discharge, a type of probation. DeKalb County Judge Thomas Doherty also ordered each of them to pay a $1,000 fine and perform 100 hours of community service….Seventeen other men pleaded guilty to misdemeanor hazing. Each was sentenced to two years of court supervision, plus 100 hours of community service and a $500 fine. They are: Alexander D. Renn, 22, of Naperville; Michael A. Marroquin, 23, of Roselle; Stefan A. Diaz, 24, of South Beloit; Nelson A. Irizarry, who in 2012 was listed as 19, from DeKalb; Nicholas A. Suter, 22, of Galesburg; Andrew W. Bouleanu, 24, of Skokie; Isaiah Lott, 22, of Cupertino, California; Johnny P. Wallace, 22, of Westmont; Andres Jimenez, 21, of Glendale Heights; Daniel S. Post, 22, of Chicago; Michael D. Pfest, 25, of Chicago; Michael J. Phillip, 23, of Western Springs; Hazel Vergaralope, 24, of Oswego; Thomas F. Costello, 22, of Usnter, Indiana; Nsenzi K. Salasini, 23, of Mount Prospect; David R. Sailer, 22, of Princeton; and Russell P. Coyner, 23, of Channahon.

Many of the men had brought dates to the party. Many of the women urged pledges to drink. Three men [Hazel Vergaralope, 21, of Dekalb; Michael Pfest, 23, of Chicago; and Michael Phillip, 20, of Western Springs] charged are in photograph.

210) 2012
University of Idaho
Lambda Chi Alpha
Drowning death

A detective investigating the death of pledge Preston Vorhauer ruled thatit was a non-hazing death when the pledge died swimming in a deep reservoir accompanied by
fraternity members who failed to keep him afloat when the victim faltered. The detective ignored my FOIA request. However, the national fraternity and school clearly have policies forbidding asking a pledge to attempt a risky stunt such as this one. The school was content to let the detective’s conclusion stand, but members of the Chad Meredith family who lost Chad in a similar drowning incident have denounced the detective’s conclusion.

211) 2012

Bethune-Cookman

Band hazing claimed by family

Sleep deprivation death at wheel

In a lawsuit, the family of Marcus Thomas, 19, blamed his death in an auto accident on his lack of sleep due to Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity of America hazing. Alcohol not a factor.

212) 2112

High Point University (North Carolina)

Delta Sigma Phi

Concussion leading to aspiration of stomach contents, then death.

The parents of Robert Eugene Tipton, Jr. have sued the pledge-master of Delta Sigma Phi, son of school president Nido Qubein, alleging that an alleged attack on their son was during a hazing session gone violent, mainly by a single member who allegedly attacked Tipton in a rage. Also involved in the suit is a university security officer. The parents allege a coverup and destruction of evidence.

213) 2001

University of North Carolina

Chi Phi

Hazing-related, albeit apparently not directly hazing

June 26, 2018–I have gone back to look over the death of pledge David Shannon. Research done by local reporter Sara Salinas many years after the tragedy demonstrates that the UNC Chi Phi chapter clearly created a classic hazing culture. Like the death of Tucker Hipps at Clemson University, David died in a fall under circumstances not 100 percent clear. Here is what Sara wrote:

“Shannon was found dead on Oct. 27, 2012, after a fall from a concrete mixer at a plant in Carrboro. The death was originally investigated for ties to hazing, though no connection was ever found. New information indicates Chi Phi accepted responsibility for hazing its pledges weeks before Shannon’s death.

On Oct. 3, 2012, Chi Phi imposed a three-week, self-initiated social probation in response to violations of hazing and alcohol policies.

Although the fraternity accepted responsibility for hazing, an investigation by the UNC Greek Judicial Board found the chapter not responsible and imposed no hazing-related sanctions.

New member activities involved embarrassing activities, physical separation of members and pledges, and the positioning of new members in subservient roles — a “clear violation of the Code (of Conduct for New Member Education)” the Board said.

But the Board ultimately found the event in question was not conducted with malice toward the pledges and found the fraternity not to be in violation of hazing policy.

“The Chi Phi Fraternity has had a presence on this campus since before the American Civil War. Doubtlessly, the pledge process of the Fraternity is steeped in tradition, and (redacted) would seem to be one of those,” the final investigation reads. “It is the opinion of the Solicitor that the event was likely conceived in a different time, when hazing was considered much more acceptable and considerations such as public embarrassment of the pledges were not kept in mind.”

Here is my reasoning. A hazing death does NOT need to have malice in order for it to be considered a hazing-related death. In many cases, there is no malice. In a few cases, the courts have ruled that a victim must share responsibility for the chapter negligence that led to that victim’s death. I am going on the record to say the Board’s “steeped in tradition” statement is a flawed and unfortunate choice of words.

Thus, while this tragedy isn’t as overt and deliberate as the water torture hazing deaths at Chico State and Plattsburgh, it is a case that I feel needs to be included on this list of deaths. [Ed. note: I need to thank reporter Ryan Haar’s questions for prodding me to give this case the attention that Sara’s dogged research deserves–Hank Nuwer]

214, 215) 2013
Virginia State University
Petersburg, Virginia
Men of Honor Drownings

19-year-old Marvell Edmondson and Jauwan M. Holmes, 19, drowned after an initiation similar to the 1979 drowning that took two lives at Virginia State.The four defendants charged with hazing were part of the Men of Honor group, police said. They include James A. Mackey, 35 of Midlothian; freshman Cory D. Baytop, 26 of Newport News; and freshman Eriq K. Benson, 19, of Quinton.” Police later charged Charles E Zollicoffer, 29. Alcohol does not appear to be a factor.

SFSU officials alleged that an April death from an alcohol overdose qualified as hazing. The dead youth was Peter Tran.

217) 2013
Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts
Sigma Alpha Mu
A national officer of Sigma Alpha Mu said a “meet and greet” party (in the words of BU Dean Kenneth Elmore) for six persons was not hazing when Anthony Barksdale II died from an alcohol overdose. In my opinion, a “meet and greet party” for new members/new pledges is a violation of the national’s hazing policy and similar to past Tapping Night deaths.http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/student-dies-bu-frat-party-article-1.1280008

218) 2013
Baruch College
New York, New York
Pi Delta Psi

Chun “Mike” Deng died while being body slammed from all directions by 20 to 30 members at an off-campus site. He was blindfolded. His tormentors waited an hour before calling 911. Alcohol was a factor but physical pummeling was direct cause. On January 8, 2018, the national was expelled from Pennsylvania schools for 10 years and fined $112,500.

219) 2014
Penn State, Altoona
Phi Sigma Kappa
Altoona, Pennsylvania
Father alleges hazing practices as pledge and member led son to suicide

Media accounts quoting the father of a suicide as putting blame on hazing practices of Phi Sigma Kappa for causing his son Marquise Braham to leap to his death over Spring Break in March. Fraternity members have denied the father’s charges through statements of their attorneys. These are the father’s remarks given at his son’s church eulogy.

The family of Armando Villa and his university claim hazing led to the death of the CSUN pledge left barefooted in the rugged Angeles Mountains and forced to find his way home. My records show that Villa is the second pledge to die in the same mountains on a fraternity dropoff. The first was Fred Bronner of Chi Chi Chi.

221) 2014
Clemson University
Clemson, SC
Sigma Phi Epsilon

Although an investigating sheriff at first ruled no hazing was involved in the death of pledge Tucker Hipps from a fall from a bridge, he was on an early-morning run with chapter members and pledges. The activity is generally outlawed as hazing by most national Greek groups. He was the second Clemson pledge to die at Lake Hartwell.

222) 2014

University of Albany

Albany, NY

Zeta Beta Tau (a rogue local chapter, not the national fraternity chapter

Trevor Duffy died from acute alcohol poisoning after being convinced to chug 60 ounces of vodka.

223) 2014

West Virginia University (Morgantown, W.V.)

Kappa Sigma

Alcohol hazing

Nolan Burch died with a BAC of .493 following a hazing incident in which he was given at least one bottle of hard liquor.

224) 2014
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX
Alpha Sigma Phi

Dalton Debrick, 18 and an incoming freshman, died of alcohol poisoning while pledging the Alpha Sigma Phi colony.

225) 2014

FarmHouse Fraternity
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE

Clayton Real, 18, died of alcohol poisoning following an event that resulted in four individuals facing charges.

226) 2015

Louisiana State University

Baton Rouge, La.

Praneet Karki, 22, died following exertion during extreme physical hazing involving the chapter’s annual so-called bonding event. He was born in Nepal.

227) 2015

University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC
Pi Kappa Alpha (non-hazing alcohol overdose at a party)

The sudden death of Charlie Terreni, Jr. due to alcohol poisoning occurred at a late night chapter St. Patrick’s party and . All national fraternities regard the giving of alcohol to underage pledges to be a form of hazing. A previous death of a newcomer to a campus group at the University of Missouri, Rolla, was considered to be hazing-related. After correspondence with fraternity leaders that disagree with me calling this a hazing death, I nonethless, given the circumstances, have decided as of May 6, 2017 to include the death of Mr. Terreni, Jr. on the list. As the 2017 death of Tim Piazza demonstrates, a chapter that allows a pledge to drink to the point of death must face consequences, no matter how unintended the fatality was.

228) 2016

Ferrum College

Ferrum, Virginia

Sigma Alpha Kappa

Michael Walker, 20, died in April from an a overdose in an incident that has resulted in providing alcohol to a minor and hazing charges.

A chapter at UNR made its pledges clean house and allowed underaged pledges to consume alcohol. Poor judgment led to the death of pledge Ryan Abele. It is listed here as a hazing-related death, despite an apparent reluctance of the Nevada Reno administration to label the tragedy a hazing death. The Sigma Nu national has been very instrumental in fighting hazing. Hoping for transparency in the circumstances of this pledge death of a very accomplished young man at a well-established Nevada-Reno fraternity now banned for 15 years by the college. [Update 12/22/17 Ryan’s parents have filed a lawsuit.] A member of Sigma Nu in the Seventies acknowledged that he was injured in similar fashion during his pledging days. Link to one of several reports calling this a hazing death.

230) 2016

Texas State

Alpha Delta Pi

Accidental death at out-of-control, alcohol-fueled off-campus outing where hazing occurred with pledges assigned as security.

Like the death of Henrietta Jackson in 1894, the death of a female attendee during an unsafe party thrown by multiple fraternity chapters (Pi Kappa Alpha, Alpha Tau Omega, Delta Tau Delta, Kappa Alpha) was a preventable tragedy that claimed the life of someone who was not being hazed herself. The hazing that occurred within chapters co-sponsoring the party, as reported in press reports, was marked by alcohol abuse which saw numerous people pass out willy nilly at the scene.During the “Monster Mash” party attended by an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 persons, emergency medical personnel treated at least one person for an alcohol overdose. While pledges were acting as security in an act of servitude, first-year student Jordin Taylor, 20 years old, an attendee, was dragged by a malfunctioning bus (there to haul attendees to and from a river tubing party). She was not found for 12 hours and then not by fraternity members, but rather by workmen sent there to fix the bus she lay under. An investigation was held, but the full circumstances of Taylor’s death remain murky to this day. Somehow she was struck by a bus and slipped under it (only to be dragged 500 feet without the driver or milling attendees noticing her plight). Significantly, a university investigation found that hazing of male pledges had occurred, and that numerous attendees had passed out at the site of the party. (Emergency service personnel were called to the scene but did not treat Taylor). Minors were served. At least one chapter told members to lie and say the event was BYO. There is no indication Ms. Taylor herself had been hazed at the event. The following have been sued by Taylor’s father:

Skyline Party Bus Co., LLC

Burleson SMTX Properties, LLC

Brandon Burleson (employee overseeing the event for Skyline).

B&B Shuttles, LLC

VCD San Marcos River, LLC

Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity

Alpha Zeta Theta Chapter

Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity

Kappa Alpha Order Epsilon Iota

Delta Tau Delta Fraternity

Delta Tau Delta Zeta Delta Chapter

231) 2016

University of Louisiana, Lafayette

Pedestrian killed by sleep-deprived pledge

Kappa Sigma

After days awake during Hell Week, Michael Gallagher, Jr. fell asleep at the wheel and his car slammed into pedestrian Rustam Nizamutdinov, 25, killing him. Local activists castigate the university for waiting until a civil suit occurred a year later before ULL officials admitted that the sleep deprivation qualified the death as hazing-related.

Eight of 18 students charged in the hazing death of Tim Piazza (above with family) also are facing manslaughter charges. according to Centre County D.A. Stacy Parks Miller. Other charges include hazing and providing alcohol to minors. The eight charged in PSU death: Brendan Young, Daniel Casey, Gary DiBileo, Luke Visser, Nick Kubera, Jonah Neuman, Joe Sala, and Michael Bonatucci. Piazza was a non-drinker in high school and was abused by members while in less than full control of his functions.

233) Louisiana State University

Phi Delta Theta

Alcohol-related hazing death following inane questioning and physical abuse

Louisiana State University President F. King Alexander disclosed that police are investigating the sudden death of Maxwell Raymond Gruver, 18, as alcohol-related hazing that occurred at the Phi Delta Theta house, and that all Greek activities are suspended. The national Phi Delta Theta organization has thrown its support behind police and school officials to investigate the hazing.

The alcohol-related death of Andrew Coffey occurred at a fraternity with recent discipline issues for hazing. The nine below face a judge Feb. 6, 2018.

Luke Kluttz, 22

Clayton Muehlstein, 22

Brett Birmingham, 20

Connor Ravelo, 21

Christopher Hamlin, 20

Anthony Petagine, 21

Anthony Oppenheimer, 21

John Ray, 21

Kyle Bauer, 21

235) 2017

Texas State University

Phi Kappa Psi

Hazing (Bottle gift)

The practice of gifting or exchanging bottles of booze that a pledge is expected to guzzle immediately has claimed the life of Matthew (Matt) Ellis, a pledge. He died Nov. 13. One brother was charged with supplying the alcohol.

236) 2017

University of Southern California

Phi Kappa Psi

Suicide allegedly a result of head injury caused by hazing

A lawsuit by the mother of Alasdair Russell says that complications from a hazing head injury led to his suicide.

237) 2018

Mactumactza Rural Teachers Training School

Tuxtla Guitierrez, Chiapas, Mexico

Death from renal failure after alleged physical hazing

Jose Luis Hernandez, one of three first-year students to collapse from renal failure following alleged extreme physical demands in a hazing, has died. The death is under investiation.

238) 2018

Guadalupe J. Aguilera (Teachers College)

Durango, Mexico

Death of a student who collapsed during seven-day hazing during orientation

Under investigation by police is the death of Ronaldo Mujica Morales who collapsed and died after allegedly being deprived of sleep and coerced or encouraged to drink alcohol. The school’s director is under police investigation according to media accounts.

239) 2018

University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Death of a Bystander (Death in accident following hazing of pledges)

Car driven by Alpha Tau Omega Pledge

Marco Lee Shemwell, 4, died at a hospital of his injuries after being hit by what police said was an automobile driven by an ATO pledge. Police have charged the pledge with driving under the influence of alcohol. His attorney ha since put in a not-guilty plea. Newspaper accounts say under-aged pledges were served alcohol, a hazing offense, at a football tailgate party that day.

Joseph Little collapsed and died in August 2018 during pledging activities found by administrators to be hazing acts.. He had been accepted into Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji), the same chapter where Trey Walker died in 1997. The death first was called suspicious by law enforcement.

241) 2018

Ohio University

Suspected hazing

Sigma Pi

Collin Wiant, 18, passed out and subsequently died after drinking too much, according to a Sigma Pi member who had spoken to a 911 dispatcher.

The question. Was Sleep deprivation (a form of hazing) a factor in the death of a Texas Cowboys “Newman”? An apparent case of hazing-related sleep deprivation led to the death of a “New Man” trying to join the Texas Cowboys Spirit Group at the University of Texas. A source told a member of PUSH that the traffic death of Nicky Cumberland may be related to sleep deprivation at the spirit group’s “retreat.” A “retreat” once led to the death of Cowboys “New Man” Gabe Higgins–a death chronicled in “Wrongs of Passage.” Parents also plan a civil suit.

242) Hampden Sydney College

College swim team and Alpha Chi Sigma, a chemical sciences association.

Under investigation and subject of a lawsuit: the death of Harrison Carter Cole, Hampden Sydney College, associated with the college swim team and Alpha Chi Sigma

243) Texas Christian University

Fraternity hazing (Kappa Sigma)

Suicide by member charged with hazing offense

Andrew Walker committed suicide after police charged him with hazing and DUI. He was charged following a hazing in which a student was hospitalized for acute alcohol intoxication. He and Christopher Barker were alleged to have coerced pledges into drinking as many as 15 shots in rapid succession.

Andrew Walker

____________________________________________________

This list contains the minimum number of deaths from such causes. An unknown number were dismissed as accidents.

News to watch: Currently under investigation and not on 2018 list: Monmouth University, February 2018. Has not officially been linked to an official or illicit pledging event by the school but did follow an unauthorized fraternity party. Activist Evelyn Piazza criticizes Monmouth for a lack of transparency. Here is what is known: Police and prosecutor reports that an accident in the wee hours of February 3, 2018, claimed the life of Monmouth student Dane Fante. Fante was a passenger in the Audi driven by Jose Rivera, a Monmouth Tau Kappa Epsilon member. Toxicology tests have been performed. Mr. Fante was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital. Monmouth experienced the 1974 death of pledge William Flowers who suffocated during a fraternity incident. The interview with mother Dorothy Flowers is included in “Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing.”

Not on the list: Disputed cases dismissed by police as a death by non-hazing causes.

Buffalo State College, Bradley Doyle, Alpha Phi Alpha. A former BSC basketball point guard, Doyle died a few months prior to graduation. Alpha Phi Alpha was suspended pending an investigation by police. Police ruled out hazing as a cause. Doyle’s family and attorney said they would pursue a civil case. To date, there has been nothing further to report in 2017.

2012. Chico State University (California). Sigma Pi; alcohol-related incident.The administration of Chico State suspended all Greek groups for a semester following the birthday celebration death of pledge Mason Sumnicht. The number of birthday drinking deaths is not kept by any researcher to my knowledge.

In 2016, Indiana State University Sigma Chi members either served or allowed to be served a vast amount of alcohol to Yorgo Karnezis who got into a boat that capsized. He drowned. It was not hazing or a crime, but is an example of negligent conduct and a lack of supervision.

_________________________________________

Armed Forces Hazing: This is a partial list with more to be added whenconfirmed. –Hank Nuwer

1945

Military Hazing

Crossing the Line ceremony

Electrocution

Shipfitter 2C Jack P. Jarosz died while touching an electrified trident during the King Neptune portion of his hazing for the U.S. Navy, according to the San Bernadino (CA) County Sun (April 3, 1946).

Lance Corporal Harry Lew was a suicide by a self-inflicted wound after fellow Marines punished him for falling asleep on sentry duty. A judge punished participants but found cause to doubt that the hazing was directly responsible for Lew taking his life.

United States Marines

Suicide after Physical hazing

Chinese-American Danny Chen allegedly was targeted for hazing in his outfit and killed himself.

____________________________

Masonic and Other Adult Secret Societies

1737

Philadelphia

Masons

Hazing prank

Daniel Rees was killed by thrown boiling liquid during a faked initiation in which he had to kiss the backsides of the pranksters and submit to other dignitaries. Benjamin Franklin’s reputation was tarnished in The American Mercury when he admitted to laughing at the cruel prank instead of ordering the hazers to desist. The entire tale is told in Hank Nuwer’s forthcoming “Hazing: Destroying Young Lives” (Indiana University, 2018).

1913

Loyal Order of Moose

Birmingham, Alabama

Hazing

Initiates Donald A. Kenny and Christopher Gustin were being given a prank initiation in which both thought they had consented to a branding. Although they passed out, the initiation continued with deadly consequences, according to the Pittston Gazette (July 25, 1913).

1929

Chicago, Illinois

Knights of Columbus

Initiations death

Tossing candidates into the air on blankets and so on was once a common form of horseplay during initiations. John C. Van Sistine, 25, suffered a broken neck. Van Sistine had been married during the previous year.

2004

Masonic Lodge (New York)

Accidental shooting death of new member

A shooting during a bizarre “William Tell” ritual with live ammunition at Southside Masonic Lodge 493 killed William James, 47.

Occupational Hazing

1946

SS Frederick Galbraith work ship

Crossing the Line ceremony, non-military

Occupational hazing

Teenage workers Leroy Robert Bragg, 14, and Stanford Fluit, 16, died from an overdose of saltpeter during a ship’s hazing at the Equator.

In 2004, a fatal occupational initiation in Denton County, Texas, led to a jury trial that ended with a 38-year-old drilling rig hazer receiving an 18-year prison sentence—only two years less than the maximum penalty the law allowed. 23-year-old Shawn Davis, a new employee of Republic Energy Drilling Company, was hooked to a cable by veteran workers and then accidentally tossed and dragged to his death.

____________________________________

The section of the title “of hazing, initiation, and Pledging-Related Accidents” is used because of legal advice due to strong attempts by interest groups to disassociate themselves from certain episodes described below. In my books I have tried to reserve the term “hazing” for those incidents that have been so identified by state and institutional authorities. If a state hazing law has not been invoked (or a grand jury failed to indict), or if a school or victim’s family said hazing did not occur even though the fatal occurrence closely matched standard definitions of hazing, I use the term “Initiation and Pledging-related Accident” instead of the term “hazing.” Obviously, even with 44 laws on the books, the definition of hazing is often disputed by individuals and their organizations–and even occasionally by grieving families of deceased pledges who prefer to think their loved ones died following “horseplay.” At the same time, some examined deaths due to alcohol use may not fall under the category of hazing. Some deaths may reveal other hazing-related deaths, including the deaths of members at the hands of other members disciplining them, deaths of members during pledge sneaks (pledges taking harsh action against members), and other less typical actions resulting in deaths.

a) Note: since no official statistics of hazing deaths are kept by a legitimate government agency, this clearinghouse of deaths reported in the United States relies on published accounts (newspapers, university histories, other books, and in one case [1838] a family history). Since state laws include felonies for hazing in some states, it is my hope that Uniform Crime Reports or another legitimate federal agency will take over tracking of deaths and felony hazing (along with death cases in initiations where the actual conviction is other than hazing such as serving alcohol to a minor or manslaughter). There also is, in my opinion, a need for more surveys conducted in a responsible manner to track actual incidents of hazing in such groups as collegiate fraternal organizations, bands and athletic teams. For example, it clearly can be shown that the number of articles reporting sexual assaults in high school athletic organizations is up, but there is no way of knowing whether or not those numbers are actually increasing unless surveys are taken or a legitimate agency tracks these. Until a legitimate agency tracks data, media reports of incidents are the only means to keep the public from going back to the days when deaths and serious injuries during hazing were shrugged off by institutional spokespersons as “accidental” or “isolated” cases.

b) Judging from correspondence I’ve received, the general public believes hazing deaths in colleges are higher in number than can be documented. These deaths below can be verified although information related to several early deaths is particularly limited.. I try hard to add any information that might cast doubt on whether a death was actually hazing caused or where the death cause was disputed by a family, members, an educational institution, or an organization.

c) I am open to listening to suggestions and to criticism that can make this a better site. My contention is that a legitimate government agency needs to take over the task of recording deaths and criminal hazing statistics. Surveys and accurate crime reports are needed to determine whether serious hazing incidents are increasing or decreasing The number of media articles reporting hazing is clearly higher than ever but that may simply indicate parents, victims, institutions, teams and fraternal organizations are more educated on the subject and thus more likely to come forward when an incident occurs. My position is that even one death a year is one too many, and that prevention is everyone’s responsibility–including that of a potential victim and that of the organization he or she is joining.–Hank Nuwer

Here is the link. I had not heard of a couple of these: Moderator Hank Nuwer Excerpt–there’s more at that link. By Denise-Marie Ordway Every year, college students are injured or killed during events associated with hazing. Often, violence, heavy drinking and humiliation are part of the rituals students endure to gain acceptance into a popular […]

Breaking news from Boston Globe Excerpt: CAMBRIDGE — Harvard University’s controversial clampdown on single-gender clubs came under double-barreled legal fire Monday as six sororities and fraternities filed a pair of sex discrimination lawsuits alleging the school used threats and intimidation against students and violated their rights to free association. Harvard’s policy of penalizing students who […]